‘People are looking to be led’: Mark Latham on Scott Morrison’s first fortnight as PM

07/09/2018

Luke Grant

It has been a fortnight since Scott Morrison became Australia’s 30th Prime Minister.

Keen to shake off perceptions of internal party division, the former Treasurer has left the fragmentation of the leadership coup behind him, working to unite his party as they develop a fresh policy framework.

But Mark Latham says while Scott Morrison has been received well in the court of public opinion early in the game, the honeymoon period he’s currently experiencing will inevitably end.

“Morrison has been a big improvement.”

“He’s had a lot of PR stuff in a fortnight, but he needs to get around some policy substance.”

“In the big policy areas of economic productivity, energy, immigration, fighting political correctness and divisive identity politics, he’s got a long way to go.”

If the Morrison Government is to secure an unlikely victory at next year’s federal election, Latham says strong policy, that is unequivocally conservative and tackles the big issues, is needed.

“If they go to the next election with the same weak, soft policy platform they had in 2016, people will think he’s not genuine.”

“There is a hunger for leadership that speaks truth and directly addresses the long standing problems. They want him to consolidate any honeymoon period into real, direct leadership, that solves these national problems that are banking up.”